2005

Israel urged citizens on Monday to avoid Turkey's southern coast between Alanya in the east and Kemer in the west, citing "concrete and grave terror threats" against them.

Since last Friday, Israel has diverted cruises carrying more than 6 000 passengers from destinations in Turkey because of what a top Israeli counter terrorism official said was "very worrying" information of possible al-Qaeda attacks.

'People come here because it's safe. Antalya is the safest city in the world'

Two cruise ships diverted to Cyprus on Monday headed home on Tuesday, abandoning planned stops in Turkish ports.

Muslim but secular Turkey, which has been experiencing a bumper tourism year, is a favourite destination for Israeli tourists, despite car-bomb attacks on two Istanbul synagogues in November 2003 that were blamed on al-Qaeda.

It was not clear how much Israel's warning would deter tourists, but Turkish officials played down its significance.

"People come here because it's safe. Antalya is the safest city in the world," Antalya governor Alaaddin Yuksel was quoted as saying by the Aksam daily on Tuesday. Antalya lies between Kemer and Alanya on Turkey's southern coast.

On Tuesday, Yossi Fatael, head of the Israeli Travel Agents Association, 15 percent of 4 000 Israelis sold airline tickets to Turkey for the next two days had cancelled their flights.

"Yes this does do some damage (to tourism) because we are speaking about a peak time for travel," Fatael said.

Official figures for July show the number of tourists visiting Turkey rose 22 percent year-on-year to 3,16 million.

The increase occurred despite a bomb blast in the popular Aegean port of Kusadasi on July 17 that destroyed a minibus, killing five people. There was no breakdown to indicate if numbers dwindled at all in the last two weeks of the month.

Turkey is a frequent target of diverse extremist groups, ranging from radical Islamists to Kurdish separatists and far-left activists.

Tourism officials in Greece and Cyprus, which share the same seas as Turkey, forecast gains for their own tourism if there is a significant switch by holidaymakers.

In Athens, a Greek tourism ministry official said his country, also experiencing a general rise in tourism mainly because of last year's Athens Olympics, was picking up more visitors because of the situation in Turkey.

"We have seen considerable cancellations of package bookings from Turkey which were absorbed by northern Greece and some of the islands," the Greek official said. "The current security situation in Turkey has affected Greek tourism."

In Cyprus, there has been a rise in enquiries about tourism capacity and expectations have risen that tourists may try to switch from Turkish destinations.

"After the Israeli travel advisory against travel to Turkey, there is certainly a potential for extra business, but being August, it is difficult to absorb because our hotels are already fully booked," said a source in the Cyprus Tourism Organisation who requested anonymity.

"Any impact from tourists changing travel plans is likely to appear with additional arrivals in September and October," the Cypriot source said.

But Fatael said Israelis had lived with terrorism so long they had become fatalistic about their travel plans.

"Terror has become a kind of world illness," he said pointing out that it reached from Jerusalem to London.

"So if it is in London, what's the big deal about Turkey? It's something you feel you cannot avoid no matter where you are."